In an effort to encourage a thriving online news culture in New Orleans, Uptown Messenger has joined with three other Internet-based news rooms — NOLA Defender, the Lens and My Spilt Milk — to form the New Orleans Digital News Alliance.

The alliance will allow us to increase the visibility of each others’ journalism as we share each others’ articles when appropriate for our own readers, a commonly accepted practice on the Internet. For example, readers of Uptown Messenger will see more links to reports from The Lens’ citizen reporters attending charter school board meetings (such as this report from Sophie B. Wright), to articles NOLA Defender’s cultural coverage comes Uptown (such as this interview with Prytania Theatre owner Rene Brunet) and to previews of Uptown gigs by former Offbeat editor Alex Rawls (such as this recent review of a James Brown biography prior to a book signing at Octavia Books).

Just as importantly, the alliance will give us a platform to address the issues unique to online newsrooms, helping to ensure the healthy development of locally-owned news outlets in New Orleans. For more details, see our joint news release.